Dungeons & Dragons vs Tenra Bansho Zero
Compare Dungeons & Dragons and Tenra Bansho Zero side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, cost, and more.
| Dungeons & Dragons | Tenra Bansho Zero | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Fantasy | Fantasy, Scifi |
| Tags | Tactical, Heroic, Character Building, High-Fantasy, Classic Fantasy, Combat-Heavy, Exploration, Resource Management, Strong GM Support, CC-Licensed Rules | Drama, Character-Driven, Roleplay-Heavy, Corruption, One-Shot Friendly, Anime, Mecha, Cinematic, High-Power, Strong GM Support |
| Core Mechanic | Roll a d20 and add applicable modifiers to meet or beat a target number. Checks and saving throws use a Difficulty Class; attacks use Armor Class. Advantage or disadvantage means rolling two d20s and keeping the higher or lower result. | Roll a number of d6 equal to an attribute. Each die showing the skill level or lower counts as a success. The GM announces how many successes are needed, usually between 1 and 6, before the roll. In an opposed roll, the defender's successes set the number the attacker must beat. Kiai points can add dice or raise a general skill before a roll, or buy extra successes after it. |
| Dice | d20 | d6 dice pool |
| Complexity | High | High |
| Accessibility | Very High | Medium |
| Runnability | Very High | High |
| License | Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (SRD 5.2.1); proprietary core books | Proprietary |
| Third-Party Publishing | Commercial publishing allowed — Open license | No verified route found |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Cost | Free | $ |
| Publisher | Wizards of the Coast | Kotodama Heavy Industries |
| Year | 2024 | 2013 |
| Languages | English, French, Italian, German, Spanish | English, Japanese, Spanish |
| Best For | Groups who want heroic fantasy campaigns with tactical combat and extensive character customization. | Groups who want a complete anime-style drama of samurai, sorcerers and mecha pilots in one long session, with the whole table rewarding memorable performances. |
| Highlights | Weapon Mastery adds effects such as pushing or slowing enemies to qualifying weapon attacks. Class and feat choices let characters develop different roles over twenty levels. Optional Bastions give characters home bases with facilities that produce benefits between adventures. | Aiki chits awarded by the table for memorable in-character play convert into the Kiai that buys dice and successes. Spent Kiai builds up as Karma, which players pay down by rewriting or sublimating their character's Fates. The Zero Act gives each character an opening scene and a GM-assigned Destiny, setting up a story meant to finish in one 4 to 6 hour session. |
| Considerations | Spells and class abilities have separate resource limits and timing rules. Higher-level magic can change travel and encounter assumptions that the DM must prepare for. Social encounters rely on ability checks and DM judgments about NPC attitudes. | A character whose Karma is still above 108 at the end of an intermission normally becomes a GM-controlled Asura and leaves play. The book has no dedicated army-scale battle rules, though individual combat and Strategy rolls can still matter within a war. Scenes usually include only two or three PCs, so players spend much of the session as the audience or voicing NPCs. |